Looks like a beautiful ship!  Carnival has come a long ways from years back.   My last cruise on Carnival was in 2009 on the "Liberty." Although Celebrity is my favorite, I really enjoyed the Carnival Liberty.

Hey Joe, thanks for posting all of this info.  It sounds like Carnival has without a doubt stepped their game up.  Very cool!  Some questions:

• Capacity of 5,000+ guests sounds closer to a 200,000+ GRT Royal Caribbean ship, how did Carnival squeeze so many more passengers in without increasing the GRT anywhere near that of Royal Caribbean's largest ships who I believe also hold somewhere in that ballpark approx the same number of passengers?
• What were additional charges in the Smokehouse, if any?  Or is it all included?
• What made the food much better than the other ships?

Thanks again, great sneak peek!

Hi @Jason

These were all things I was concerned about as well and did not understand until I was onboard. So the Carnival Horizon is roughly 133,500 GRT and the Oasis Class of ships range from 225,000 to 230,000 GRT. The horizon has a passenger capacity of 5,056 and the Oasis class ships hold up to 6,900. So even though there is only a 1,800 passenger difference I still understand the concern.

So how do they manage this?

Royal Caribbean's Oasis-class gives you all the amenities of a "Super-Ship" with the capability of having every public space half full because there is such a large variety of them. Now on Carnival, there are enough public spaces for each of them to be about 95% full at most times, even with this you will not feel "crowded" but you definitely be in an elevator with 3 or 4 other passengers whereas on Oasis I was on the elevator by myself almost always. So it seems to me Carnival was able to fit that amount of people by having fewer public spaces or at least smaller spaces and having more cabins. To put this into perspective the older Carnival ships such as the  Triumph class have large atrium areas that span the entire height of the ship where the newer ships have an atrium that spans three decks. If Royal Caribbean did something similar to this I would image they could fit upwards of 8,000 passengers onboard. 

The smokehouse is an additional fee restaurant. I am not too sure about the price I think it might be al la carte pricing and of course, the drinks do cost extra and they cost anywhere from $10-  $14 but if you do have the cheers package those drinks are included with those packages. 

So the food onboard was just perfect. Over the last few years since specialty restaurants have become a very common thing onboard, I have noticed a steep decline in the main dining room food. I noticed this onboard Harmony of the Seas in 2017 when, for the first time, I decided to forgo dinner after getting my dinner and it being horrible enough to the point that I did not want anything else.  Now onboard the Horizon I was able to sample the food at multiple specialty restaurants and then had a full dinner in the main dining room and I did not notice any differences in the quality, presentation or flavor. The main dining room was perfect from the atmosphere to the Kale salad, Lobster, and Shimp, to the GLUTEN FREE, melting chocolate cake. For those who need approval that I know good food, I live in Providence, Rhode Island which is home to some of the best and most award-winning restaurants in the country. Needless to say, I know good food. 

I hope this sufficiently answers your questions! 

-Joe 

15 hours ago, Shari2 said:

Looks like a beautiful ship!  Carnival has come a long ways from years back.   My last cruise on Carnival was in 2009 on the "Liberty." Although Celebrity is my favorite, I really enjoyed the Carnival Liberty.

@Shari2 I could not agree more Carnival has come a very long way in a short amount of time! If you enjoyed the Carnival Liberty you would definitely enjoy the Horizon! 

Joe, very interesting perspectives and information.  Disappointed to hear that the Smokehouse is an extra fee, but I guess it is what it is.  The pics of those bbq ribs look amazing!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for posting Joe. I've got to say the photo's make the ship look very "vanilla" which may be better than the older ships and their garish colors. Still too many people in too small of an area for me though.

Forgot to say WELCOME Joe...love your blog and the great pictures! We were on the "Holiday" back in the '80s and it was pretty bad, but decided to go with a group of friends on the "Liberty" in 2009.  I was amazed at how much better the ships looked, and the food and entertainment was very good.  Although I would love to try other ships, I wouldn't hesitate to sail on the newer Carnival ships again.  Loved the melting chocolate cake with a little ice cream on top.  Had that almost every night, even though the crème Brule is usually my favorite.